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IKF overturns Lion Fight 27 bout to victory for Bolanos

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IKF overturns Lion Fight 27 bout to victory for Bolanos

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IKF overturns ruling, awards Lion Fight 27 bout to Bolanos

Lion Fight Promotions has received notification that the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) has officially overturned the result of the bout between Gaston Bolanos and Kronphet Phetrachapat which was held at Lion Fight 27 on Friday, January 29th.

Following a review of the entire fight by 21 international judges, the IKF has reversed the result from a victory for Phetrachapat to a win for Bolanos. With the outcome changed, Bolanos remains undefeated and now stands 8-0, while Phetrachapat is denied his 75th career with and falls to 74-19-4.

“It’s unusual for a sanctioning body to accept responsibility and so clearly explain their process in evaluating a disputed decision,” said Scott Kent, CEO & President of Lion Fight.

“Standardizing judging criteria for Muay Thai and training world-class judges and referees should be the goal of all sanctioning bodies interested in promoting this amazing sport. I applaud Steve Fossum and the IKF for taking a stand and providing the transparency in their decision process.”

“Both of these fighters are true warriors and hopefully we can get them in the ring again.”

Originally, the ringside judges’ scoring declared a split-decision victory by Phetrachapat by scores of 48-47, 47-48 and 48-47. The vast majority of ringside observers including UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich, who was the analyst for AXS TV Fights which broadcast the fight card, had it scored for Bolanos. Of the 21 judges who reviewed the fight, 18 scored it for Bolanos which led to the overturned result. Nine of those judges scored the fight 49-46 for Bolanos while four had 50-45 for Bolanos.

Official statement from the IKF including all the judges’ scoring:

Bolanos declined to speak about the verdict, instead choosing to focus on his training. His manager, Gary Ibarra, felt his client was vindicated with the overturned outcome.

“We are pleased that the IKF chose to review and ultimately change the judges’ original decision,” offered Ibarra. “Gaston’s sole focus for this bout was to show that he could compete with an experienced competitor like Kronphet and in that respect, he felt he’d succeeded regardless of the decision.

“The fact that the decision was overturned, however, by 18 of the 21 independent reviewers just goes to show that not only can he compete with the best, most experienced Muay Thai fighters in the world, he can beat them.”

Next up for Lion Fight Promotions is Lion Fight 28 which takes place on Friday, February 26th at Foxwoods Casino Resort in Mashantucket, Massachusetts. The card is headlined by a pair of title fights. “Smokin” Jo Nattawut puts his super welterweight title on the line against Cedric Manhoef, and lightweight title-holder Ognjen Topic defends his belt against Sergio Wielzen.

Tickets for Lion Fight 28 are available at , or by calling 800-200-2882 or by visiting the Foxwoods Box Offices.